- chapter 3: Etruscan origins and the ancient authors –
3 There is nonetheless a problem concerning Dionysius’ citation of Herodotus (1.57.3), that the
language of the Pelasgians who inhabited Placia and Scylace, two towns on the Hellespont,
was similar to that of the Crotoniates (and thus of the inhabitants of Cortona in north-
west Tuscany); the manuscripts of Herodotus here do not name the Crotoniates, but the
Crestoniates, of the city of Crestone in the Chalchidice. Scholars are divided on whether
to follow the Herodotean manuscript tradition and view – that of Dionysius as incorrect
- or to follow Dionysius and think that Herodotus wanted to establish a link between the
people of the two little Hellespont towns and the Etruscan city. On this subject, see Briquel
1984:104–10 (and 101–68 for the place of Cortona in the tradition of a Pelasgian origin of
the Etruscans).
4 Here and hereafter, quoting the Loeb Classical Text in the translation by E. Cary (1937–1950).
5 This version does not exactly conform to that in Herodotus 1.94. It concerns a pair of brothers:
Lydos who remains at home and gives his name to the country until then called Maeonia, and
Tyrrhenos, who departs to found Etruria. Herodotus only mentions that Tyrrhenos is son of
Atys, and does not name any brother Lydos. It seems that in the Hellenistic period, the theory
of the Lydian origin of the Etruscans was expanded in this version and referred to Herodotus,
in somewhat modifi ed form (which I have called the “Herodotean Vulgate,” see Briquel 1991:
91–123).
6 On this version of the legend see Briquel 1991: 138–54.
7 On this tradition see Briquel 1984: 278–92, Gras 1985: 590–615.
8 On the thesis that Latin ought to be an Aeolian Greek dialect, Collart 1954: 215–18, see
Gabba 1963, Briquel 1984: 444–53.
9 On the historical work of Dionysius and the meaning of his demonstration, refer to Gabba
- 10 On the issues of viewing Rome as either a Greek or an Etruscan city see Vanotti 1999.
11 This meaning of Etruscan autochthony in the work of Dionysius was masterfully treated by
Musti 1970. It was disputed by Gabba 1991:104–105: such a negative ethnic perception
of the Etruscans is incompatible with their role in the history of Italy, as shown by the
fact the Dionysius had planned to write a book especially on the lofty deeds of this people
(1.30.4: “In another book, I shall show what cities the Tyrrhenians founded, what forms of
government they established, how great power they acquired, what memorable achievements
they performed, and what fortunes attended them”).
12 The attribution of Etruscan autochthony that made barbarians of them cannot be regarded
in the same way as Athenian authochthony (on which see, in part, Montanari 1979–1981,
Loraux 1981a, 1981b): for the inhabitants of Attica, literally born from the soil of Greece, an
authochthonous origin is obviously positive.
13 This thesis, somewhat expanded, is presented by Micali 1832: 97–9, De Sanctis 1907: 128,
Pareti 1926: 13, Pallottino 1947: 48, Torelli 1986: 18, Gabba 1991: 113, n. 42.
14 On this question, see in part Cristofani 1983, 1989, Giuffrida Ientile 1983, Gras 1985. For
developments in the Adriatic, Braccesi 1971, 1977, 2004.
15 References in Briquel 1984: 196–201.
16 For a more detailed study of the question see Briquel 1993.
17 On the diffusion of the Lydian thesis at this time, Briquel 1991: 479–88. It appears, at least
by allusion, in Cato, the Pseudo-Scymnos, Cicero, Catullus, Virgil, Ovid, Strabo, Verrius
Flaccus, Valerius Maximus, Velleius Paterculus, Seneca, Silius Italicus, Pliny the Elder,
Tacitus, Statius, Plutarch, Pollux, Appian, Tertullian, Justin, Festus, Hyginus the Fabelist,
Solinus, Servius, Rutilius Namatianus, Isidore of Seville.
18 Quoted here in the translation of A. D. Godley, Herodotus vol. 1 : 123–24 (Loeb Classical
Library, Cambridge, MA, 1920, revised 1926, 1966).
19 See Pareti 1926: 60. The idea was reprised in Pallottino 1947: 44, Sakellariou 1958: 71.
20 On this tradition, Briquel 1991: 47–9.